F. Yet none but you by Name the guilty lash; Ev'n Guthry faves half Newgate by a Dash. 11 Spare then the Perfon, and expose the Vice.

P. How, Sir! not damn the Sharper, but the Dice?
Come on then, Satire? gen'ral, unconfin'd,
Spread thy broad wing, and fouce on all the kind.
Ye Statesmen, Priests, of one Religion all! 16
Ye Tradesmen, vile, in Army, Court, or Hall!
Ye Rev'rendAtheists. F.Scandal! name them, Who?
P. Why that's the thing you bid me not to do,
Who starv'd a Sifter, who forfwore a Debt,
I never nam'd; the Town's enquiring yet.
The pois'ning Dame---F. You mean---P. I don't.
F. You do.

20

P. See, now I keep the Secret, and not you!

NOTES.

is fo monftrously fudden, that it rises up to a resemblance before I can get from the prefs.

VER II. Ev'n Guthry] The Ordinary of Newgate, who publishes the memoirs of the Malefactors, and is often prevailed upon to be so tender of their reputation, as to set down no more than the initials of their name.

P.

VER. 13. How, Sir! not damn the Sharper, but the Dice?] The liveliness of the reply may excufe the bad reasoning; otherwise the dice, tho' they rhyme to vice, can never stand for it, which his argument requires they should do. For the dice are only the inftruments of fraud; but the question is not, whether the inftrument, but whether the a committed by it, fhould be expofed, inftead of the perfon.

The bribing Statesman---F. Hold, too high you go.
P. The brib'd Elector---F. There you ftoop too

low.

25

P. I fain would please you, if I knew with what; Tell me, which Knave is lawful Game, which not? Muft great Offenders, once efcap'd the Crown, Like Royal Harts, be never more run down? Admit your Law to fpare the Knight requires, 30 As Beasts of Nature may we hunt the Squires?

NOTES.

VER. 26. I fain would please you, if I knew with what ;—Tell me, which Knave is lawful Game, which not?] I have obferved, that our author has invented, and introduced into his writings, a new fpecies of the fublime, by heightening it with wit. There is a fpecies of elegance in his works (of which these lines are an inftance) almost as peculiar to him, which he has produced by employing the fimpleft and tritest phrases to prevent stiffness, and yet, by a fupreme effort of his art, giving them the dignity of the choiceft. Quintilian was fo fenfible of the luftre which this throws upon true eloquence under a masterly direction, and of the prejudices against it from the difficulty of fucceeding in it; that he fays, Utinam-et verba in ufu quotidiano pofita minus timeremus.

VER. 28. Muft great Offenders, etc.] The cafe is archly put. Those who escape public justice being the particular property of

the Satirift.

VER. 29. like Royal Harts, etc.] Alluding to the old Gamelaws, when our Kings spent all the time they could spare from human flaughter, in Woods and Forests.

VER. 31. As Beafts of Nature may we hunt the Squires ?] The expreffion is rough, like the fubject, but no reflection: For if beafts of Nature, then not beafts of their own making; a fault too frequently objected to country Squires. However, the Latin is nobler, Ferae natura, Things uncivilized, and free. Ferae,

To fave a Bishop, may I name a Dean?

F. A Dean, Sir? no: his Fortune is not made, You hurt a man that's rifing in the Trade.

35

P. If not the Tradefman who fet up to day,
Much less the 'Prentice who to morrow may.
Down, down, proud Satire! tho' a Realm be spoil'd,
Arraign no mightier Thief than wretched Wild;
Or, if a Court or Country's made a job,

Go drench a Pick-pocket, and join the Mob.
But, Sir, I beg you (for the Love of Vice!)
The matter's weighty, pray confider twice;
Have
you lefs pity for the needy Cheat,

The poor

40

and friendless Villain, than the Great ?45 Alas! the fmall Difcredit of a Bribe

Scarce hurts the Lawyer, but undoes the Scribe.

NOTES.

as the Critics fay, being from the Hebrew, Pere, Afinus filveftris. SCRIBL.

VER. 35. You hurt a man that's rifing in the Trade.] For, as the reasonable De la Bruyere obferves, "Qui ne fait être un "ERASME, doit penfer à être Evêque." SCRIBL.

VER. 39. wretched Wild,] Jonathan Wild, a famous Thief, and Thief-Impeacher, who was at last caught in his own train and hanged.

P.

VER. 42. for the love of Vice] We must confider the Poet as here directing his difcourfe to a follower of the new fyftem of Politics, That private vices are public benefits. SCRIBL,

VOL. IV.

Y

1

Then better fure it Charity becomes

To tax Directors, who (thank God) have Plums; Still better, Ministers; or, if the thing

May pinch ev'n there---why lay it on a King. F. Stop! stop!

50

P. Muft Satire, then, nor rife nor fall? Speak out, and bid me blame no Rogues at all. F. Yes, strike that Wild, I'll justify the blow. P. Strike? why the man was hang'd ten years ago: Who now that obfolete Example fears?

56

Ev'n Peter trembles only for his Ears.

F. What always Peter? Peter thinks you mad, You make men defp'rate, if they once are bad:

NOTES.

VER. 51. why lay it on a King.] He is ferious in the foregoing fubjects of fatire; but ironical here, and only alludes to the common practice of Minifters, in laying their own mifcarriages on their masters.

VER. 55. Strike? why the man was hang'd ten years ago:] The line is exquifite. The high humour of it, in the unexpected turn, is but it's fecond praife. It finely carries on the argument, and expofes the falfe rules and meafures of fatire, his Court Friend would inculcate for his practice: which infinuate, that he is to avoid the proper object of fatire, great offenders, who have escaped public juftice; and, in their ftead, to seize the little rogues, who have fubmitted to it.

the

VER. 57. Ev'n Peter trembles only for his ears,] Peter had, year before this, narrowly efcaped the Pillory for forgery: and got off with a fevere rebuke only from the bench.

P.

Elfe might he take to Virtue fome

years hence --P. As S---k, if he lives, will love the PRINCE.

F. Strange spleen to S---k!

P. Do I wrong the Man?

God knows, I praise a Courtier where I can.
When I confefs, there is who feels for Fame, 64
And melts to Goodness, need I SCARB'ROW name?
Pleas'd let me own, in Efher's peaceful Grove
(Where Kent and Nature vye for PELHAM'S Love)
The Scene, the Mafter, opening to my view,
I fit and dream I fee my CRAGGS anew!

Ev'n in a Bishop I can fpy Defert ;

Secker is decent, Rundel has a Heart,

NOTES.

70

VER. 64. feels for Fame, And melts to goodness] This is a fine compliment; the expreffion fhewing, that fame was but his Second paffion.

VER. 65. Scarb'row] Earl of, and Knight of the Garter, whose perfonal attachments to the king appeared from his fteddy adherence to the royal intereft, after his refignation of his great employment of Mafter of the Horfe; and whofe known honour and virtue made him efte:med by all parties.

P.

VER. 66. Efher's peaceful grove,] The house and gardens of Efher in Surry, belonging to the Honourable Mr. Pelham, Brother of the Duke of Newcastle. The author could not have given a more amiable idea of his Character than in comparing him to Mr. Craggs.

P.

VER. 67. Kent and Nature] Means no more than art and nature. And in this confifts the compliment to the Artist.

VER. 71. Secker is decent] Thefe words (like thofe y 135. of the first Dialogue) are another inftance of the malignity of